The Art of Prog

NOTE: Greg Hasbrouck interviewed Suspyre guitarist/saxophonist Gregg Rossetti in May of this year.

Greg: Hello… Gregg? This is also Greg. How are you doing?

Gregg (Suspyre): How are you doing? I’m well.

Greg: It’s nice to be talking to somebody else from New Jersey for a change; these long distance calls to Norway are killing me.

(mutual laughter)

Gregg (Suspyre): I believe it.

Greg: Let’s start off with some basics, as some of the people who might read this may not be familiar with Suspyre. How would you describe Suspyre’s music?

Gregg (Suspyre): Good question. OK… we’re mix of all our influences. Suspyre’s music really has no boundaries. We didn’t set out to start a progressive Metal band, or whatever people call it… Power Metal. We just all listen to different genres of music and I wrote most of it… I’m not saying I have all the say, I just write music and send it to the guys… and girl now, and they all make comments; let’s change this, make this part sound… basically put their input into it. So the music doesn’t really have any set limitations, per say. My biggest influences range to all different genres. I listen to some Metal, a lot of Classical, Jazz Fusion, Funk; everything.

Greg: Yeah… I was looking at the list of influences on your web site and among Metal, I think you listed everyone from ANGRA to ZERO HOUR.

Gregg (Suspyre): Oh yeah… exactly.

Greg: From a Metal perspective, as I suspect that will be primary interest of those reading this, who do you think has had the most recent impact on your music?

Gregg (Suspyre): On the recent album, I’d been listening to a lot of PAIN OF SALVATION. I don’t even know if I’d call that Metal, because a lot of their stuff is so mellow I wouldn’t put them in that genre. They seem to be the most emotional band I’ve ever heard. And I don’t mean that like, oh he’s sad, he’s crying. When they play, it sounds like they’re trying to create art, rather than show off. And I even think that about DREAM THEATER. I know they’re the quintessential Prog Metal band, and it’s kind of cliché to mention Dream Theater, but they’re also diverse. Falling Into Infinity, Train of Thought, it’s two completely different… sounds like two completely different bands. I know you mentioned ANGRA and ZERO HOUR. Those have always been big influences because of their uniqueness. How ANGRA uses their Brazilian kind of sound, and sounds very Latin influenced and Zero Hour with their, I don’t want to say the word minimalism, but just guitar and bass doing their unison, Japanese pentatonic scales. It sounds really interesting; I really like the texture in their music. Their music sounds very emotional to me too, they go from something very heavy and aggressive to something that is just very mellow and ethereal and almost Jazz.

Greg: So I’m curious… you’re 26, correct?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yes… 26.

Greg: So how does a child of the 90s end up in a Prog Metal band?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah… well my parents had a big influence on it actually. In the 80s, when I was really young… my Dad is really into Progressive Rock, he was a big influence on me. If you watch all the home videos, from when I was four years old, there were always GENESIS albums on in the background, LED ZEPPLIN, STYX. So that made a big influence. And then when I was early teens, I was really into METALLICA, that was huge… and that was coming out of the Grunge age, you know the 90s, and everything was NIRVANA and PEARL JAM and everything, that had a little bit of influence. But to me, I really liked METALLICA.

Greg: And was there some sort of codifying moment, a performance, an album, where you say to yourself, “This is what I want to do”?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah… actually, I had been in music my entire life and I knew I wanted to do music, starting when I played saxophone in the winter concert in 5th Grade. Up till then, I liked music… actually, in 5th Grade, all I did was listen to METALLICA and in school I liked art a lot; drew METALLICA album covers, it was really strange. I wasn’t really into saxophone, but then all of a sudden, that concert, that was a lot of fun. That was one of the moments. Other things were when I first noticed there were other bands besides those on the radio. High school. That’d be the big difference, when I first started using the Internet, searching for bands, I looked up… I think the first, more esoteric band I heard was BLIND GUARDIAN? I was like, I never heard of them, who’s this? I mean, I knew IRON MAIDEN, they were popular and I was looking for other bands. BLIND GUARDIAN? I was really into Final Fantasy and RPGs, so the BLIND GUARDIAN kind of fantasy stuff really sparked me. Then I formed a band in high school, whose some of their songs, SUSPYRE does. They were kind of a pre-SUSPYRE, but they don’t really count since they were just a high school band.

Greg: So you mentioned the sax. And from what I’ve heard on your albums and read on your web site, you’re a fairly accomplished sax player, so aside from Zoot the Muppet, who would you list as some of your sax influences?

Gregg (Suspyre): Well as a child, I always like the Muppets and I loved seeing Zoot. And that’s what made me want to play sax, I thought he was so cool, with long hair and sunglasses and everything. I got really into saxophone in middle school, 5th Grade and on, it was actually my main instrument until college. And then in college, I was the only guitar player in the school that could read music, so when people needed a guitar player for a Jazz ensemble, I got the part. And I was only OK at guitar. I didn’t know that much, I kind of just played for fun. Then I was like, hey… let me practice guitar a little bit. The other saxophone players I’m still into – a lot of CHARLIE PARKER, JOHN COLTRANE, I like WAYNE SHORTER a lot too. ERIC DOLPHY did some really interesting things. But I was totally into CHARLIE PARKER and his ability just to shred. Bebop was the Metal of the time; trying to play fast as possible. If you really look at a lot of popular Metal, the chord progressions in the songs are just like Pop songs. And that’s exactly what Bebop did. Bebop took Pop songs from the day, played them faster and tried to show up everyone else. When you see bands like DRAGONFORCE, their chord progressions are no different than what the kids bring into the lessons for me. Pop stars speed it up and go crazy with it.

Greg: Wow… that’s interesting. So, I mentioned at the beginning of the call, you’re a fellow Jersey boy, so I’m wondering of there’s some sort of progressive Metal scene floating around this state or the east coast I’m not aware of, where you guys even have an opportunity to build a following for yourselves?

Gregg (Suspyre): Well, the following didn’t have so much to with the fact that its progressive Metal. People like the local bands, no matter what genre you are. If you’re good at what you do, people will start following. The progressive Metal thing… I teach about 40 students a week, so many of them are into it. They come in and they’re like, “Can we do this DREAM THEATER song?” Or they’ll show me this new band, something that I would think would be Death Metal, and they’ll play it and it’s just so fast and technical and that seems to be the trend. Everyone wants to learn how to play fast and learn all the special techniques that are required to play this kind of music.

Greg: So as someone who’s obviously immersed in the scene as a player, and you teach a lot and are quite studied, do you see this as a cyclical thing? Whereas in the 90s, actually knowing how to play the guitar was not a necessity for being in a band, do you see this coming full circle in another five or ten years?

Gregg (Suspyre): I hope so. Here’s the thing. As many Progressive Metal bands as there are, there’s also the opposite. As you said, being in a band and knowing how to play should go together. And I always thought you learn your instrument, you master it, you take lessons, you know everything about it and then you apply that knowledge. You go to medical school, you get a degree, you become a doctor. You don’t just start operating blind and hope to learn as you go. So with music there still are a lot of people who think, “Oh… let me just go for it.” I own a recording studio, and there are some bands in my studio, there was this band for one that didn’t have a bass player. And they said, “Hey… let’s get my friend, he has some money, he can learn to play.” And I was like, “Really?” And I said to the guys, “You do what you think.” They just think – you buy a bass, now you’re part of a band. It’s funny how that job market works in music. And probably because I’m a little jaded, because I do music for a living, so I get to see a lot of different people and a lot of different personalities in music and how they approach the art.

Greg: I’d laugh a little harder, but I think I learned to play bass because I thought to myself, it’s only got four strings; how hard can it be?

Gregg (Suspyre): A lot of people think that.

Greg: I see on your web site, you have both a BA and an MA in music. I’m wondering if you find it at all ironic that a genre which is often stereotyped as being about power chords and leather pants has become something of a haven for studied musicians?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yes. It’s very interesting. Old Metal, the Manowar and Judas Priest type thing, it matured, it’s been around for years. That’s why I don’t like putting things into genres. I have my own genres; is the music progressive or conservative, is it corporeal or abstract, is it emotional or is it just some people organizing sounds. That’s why our music happens to be Metal, because it’s just a good way to show emotion. And when you think good guitar playing, you think shredding. And the thing that turns me off to some Jazz is ego. It’s more about play. You play a tune for 30 second and solo for ten minutes. That’s the thing I like about the Metal genre, they’re actually writing music. And of course I always thought, as a kid, watching the Metal bands, you just always thought that was so cool. Look at how much power. And for skinny guys, like myself, you hit that power chord and it just sounds like you’re cool now. It’s just the kind of confidence you get from it.

Greg: In September (2008) you did an interview with Metal Underground, where you said, “Americans, in general, are very concerned with image, which has been a prevailing atrocity to the art in music since the 1980s.” Now first of all, I love this quote. So, as someone whose been studying as long as you have, is the lack of appreciation for the finer points in music a continuing source of frustration for you?

Gregg (Suspyre): Most frustrating. Here’s the thing… I went through a lot of schooling in music and did a lot of studying and I can spend hours and hours, days on a piece of music. And a critic can say, “I don’t like it.” And then it gets put away. And then someone can throw out a few power chords and just randomly generate a piece of music, write it in five minutes, not necessarily think about it, and it can go crazy just because they had some image and/or money. Which is sad too, you get a lot of wealthy people who show up and they buy their way into the music world. Everyone puts a different amount of emphasis on complexity and some people think less is more, but if you’ve done more work, it’s sad that you don’t get more reward, and it’s actually the opposite. These bands I see, and composers of all genres, get little recognition for their hard work and creativity. It’s common sense that most Pop music is a few chords, done by producers, it’s just about the image. It’s doctored and marketed as a product.

Greg: Does that frustration ever lead you to take a more streamlined approach? Obviously Symphony X is one of your influences. And I suspect you’d agree, that on their last two releases, they’ve upped the Power Metal elements and have consequently grown their audience considerably.

Gregg (Suspyre): It depends what your goal is. If my goal was to be commercial and make money, I probably wouldn’t do music. I’d be a lawyer or a computer programmer or something. I like to write what I want to hear. And there’s nothing wrong with simpler music. In fact I’m working on a new SUSPYRE album right now and it’s different. It is a little more streamlined and a little more accessible. Because in music you need a good balance between complication and simplicity. If it’s too complicated people get frustrated. If it’s too simple people can get bored. And that’s just the balance. I’ve never thought, let’s just change everything, sell out per se, get more popular sounding. I’d rather just write what I feel like writing, what the guys in the band feel like doing. I’ve written things that were a little simple and they’ve told me, “No, don’t change that, keep it complicated.” There’s some stuff on the new album that I can’t even remember how to play. It’s complicated, but it’s what I felt like writing at the time.

Greg: You mentioned “the guys in the band”. In the last six months, you’ve replaced three members. What do you attribute that to? Is it as simple as there being no money in this? Is it creative differences?

Gregg (Suspyre): I think it’s a combination. Of the people that left… well, one was just an addition. She was added because we decided we needed a keyboardist. The last drummer we had, Sam, he’s now in ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. I think that was a money thing. I think people listen to them and go to their shows. I don’t know who they are really. He’s a great drummer. But what he was into was more Death Metal. Rich is now playing in some Pop band. I don’t know his exact reason for leaving. Rich and I have been good friends forever. And he just decided he didn’t want to do it any more. So I think it’s just a combination. It’s just been frustrating. Like the drummer search. We finally found Gabe, but we were searching for people for years. And it was impossible to find someone who could play our music, commit to it, and had the right kind of personality for us. The problem is we need someone who can play the technical Metal stuff, with odd time signatures, double bass, etc. and also have the kind of feel of a Jazz drummer. And that was the hardest thing about finding a drummer.

Greg: Interesting. If your web site is up to date, the last show you did was October, when you did ProgPower Europe. The next show you have scheduled is September, ProgPower USA. As technical as your music is, how do you stay sharp?

Gregg (Suspyre): Oh… it’s tough. Up till now, what we’ve been doing is, I have sheet music for all the songs, I send everyone sheet music and you learn the parts on your own time and we’ll rehearse a couple times before the show. Sometimes, if we procrastinate too much, it’s tough to have enough rehearsal time, like ProgPower Europe. I was frustrated, because we were cramming everything in and then we had a few days off before we played and it was tough to stay on the ball. It’s all about what you do away from the group, what you do at home: practice, memorize, clean parts up, play with a metronome for hours a day. The reason I use that approach is it’s the way orchestras practice. I had a composition teacher who once wrote a piece that was a half an hour long and the orchestra had twenty minutes of rehearsal time before the concert. I’ve seen Chick Corea’s electric band, one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, and I heard recently that they did not rehearse at all for the concert. They just told each other what tunes they were going to do, and it was the tightest concert you’ve ever seen. It’s just the way a lot of musicians have to work it. If you know your parts together, the rehearsal is just cleaning up. I would never want to go and play a show without rehearsing.

Greg: I’m curious about this. I’m by no means a studied musician. But can a studied musician, spend enough time with a metronome and sheet music, and within two or three rehearsals be as tight as you’d expect to be after a string of 20 or 30 shows in a row? Is there an aspect of a live performance that you can’t duplicate with practicing alone or is just a matter of being on time with the drummer and knowing your part?

Gregg (Suspyre): It’s knowing your part, and a lot has to do with the drummer. A great band with an average drummer, sounds like an average band. And the average band with a great drummer will sound like a great band. Because that’s what the human ear hears. I do a lot of producing and recording. The first thing I do is make sure the drumming is perfect, before anyone else is allowed to play. That’s the backbone of everything.

Greg: OK. Does the fact that you own a recording studio, give you guys a large advantage? Because you have an infinite amount of time to do what you do in studio.

Gregg (Suspyre): Oh yeah. That’s the best part. If we had to go to another studio, we’d still be on our first album. A lot of time we add little bonuses on the recording, that most of the bands don’t feel like doing, like a lot of the overdubbed choirs, the stuff that Clay does. I’ll write out a four-part harmony for him. And that takes a long time. I have to teach him each part, compose it all. We make chords out of every note, and make it sound full. Most people think that’s not important, ehhh…. Just have a computer do it. So we like to have it real. The orchestral stuff, most of it’s programmed, with symphonic samples, like they use in film scoring. But the guitar harmonies, there’s parts where there’s seven to eight guitar parts at once and I just keep layering them, because I’m just sitting in the studio taking care of everything and I wind up keeping it. A lot of the stuff you hear on the new album, like “Evolutions” where we have a robot talking, was a joke at first. Clay just started talking and I’m like, hey, and I put on the robot effect and it’s kind of cool and we’re gonna keep it. And those are the things, in a real studio where you’re strapped for time and money you don’t have a chance to experiment as much.

Greg: And I suspect it also give you guys a degree of creative freedom, in that if the record company decided, we don’t want to put out these records any more, you could still make as much music as you want and distribute it digitally, right?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah. That’s what we did for our first album… well, we made a CD. But we did everything ourselves on the first album, which is tough financially in the beginning, because all the support had to come out of our own pockets. But we could do that if we didn’t have a label. And we were thinking the digital thing seems to be taking over. A lot of people are using iTunes to get music. Which is sad, because the quality is just not as good. It’s not bad, it’s just not as good. I probably sound like an old sap, I sound like my parents now, saying when cassette tapes took over, the sound got terrible.

(mutual laughter)

Greg: No… I’m with you. I miss the album artwork and I have a collector mentality, so I can appreciate where you’re coming form. Aside from the compression you get on MP3s at low or medium bit rates.

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah… the terrible thing is we spend so much time and money on mastering and artwork, that it’s sad that people don’t get to experience that. I have an iPod and I use it for convenience purposes. It’s just nice to carry one thing around with me, instead of my CD collection. But when I’m listening to music to analyze the production, I would never listen on that. I’ll put on the same CD, as I have on the iPod as well, and I’ll flip flop between, and the CD blows it away. You don’t need to put any analysis on it, just listen to it. So it will be sad when everything becomes digital.

Greg: On past releases, it’s always been you writing the music and Clay writing the lyrics. You have three new band members; do you expect the two of you will continue to carry that same workload?

Gregg (Suspyre): The thing is, Clay just writes lyrics and no one else really tries. I won’t even touch them. And no one else really submits them. I write a lot of the music, for the same kind of reason; I send parts to people and they’re like, yeah… this is fine. But occasionally they’ll come in and say, “Can we add or double this part?” A lot of times Clay will say something like that, like, “Can we make the chorus a little slower?” or “Can we double this part?” He will comment on the structure a lot. But most of the composition, I write out all the guitars, orchestral parts, all the drum parts and send everyone the score. I do a draft first. Sometimes it makes it to the album. Of course I let the drummers experiment. But a lot of times, these parts work and they don’t want to touch them.

Greg: Of the three new members, one is April Sese, who plays keyboards. Does having a woman in the band change the group dynamic?

Gregg (Suspyre): Probably. Especially for me, personally, my girlfriend will say, “Why do you have a girl in the band?”

(mutual laughter)

Gregg (Suspyre): The weirdest thing about it is the fact that her name is April. And we have a song called “April in the Fall” about a girl named April, who heard a song on the radio. And she heard us on a radio station. That was the weirdest thing.

Greg: So it was fated?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah… she heard us on Rutgers radio. And she was like, this is a good band, and added us on MySpace and the next thing you know, she was auditioning. That’s the only thing. I mean, everyone has to bring it out. I remember at ProgPower Europe all these people were like, “Suspyre’s the only band with a girl”. But I don’t think it matters.

Greg: No… as long as she can play. I was just kind of curious, as I’m familiar with the dynamic between band members, when you’re down in the basement practicing, and it’s not always, female-friendly, shall we say.

(mutual laughter)

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah.. exactly. It’s a little different. We hang out sometimes as a band, but we’re all so busy thatI it’s not like we’re a certain clique of friends that hang out every day, like in a high school band.

Greg: So, you guys are playing ProgPower in September. Had you been trying to get on the card or was it a situation where Glenn came to you and you were oblivious to the festival?

Gregg (Suspyre): We’ve always wanted to play ProgPower. But the way we were approached, he just asked us to do it. I think our manager was involved somehow. I just remember getting an e-mail saying, “You guys have been asked to play ProgPower.” We weren’t calling him, and annoying him, and writing letters about letting us play. It was probably just a combination. He probably just knew we were interested, and heard our music, and gave us a chance.

Greg: Have you been to the festival?

Gregg (Suspyre): I haven’t been to the one in Atlanta yet. I’ve always wanted to go. It’s just that, it’s in Atlanta, I’m in New Jersey. Obviously, we played the one in Europe. I know people who have gone and just heard about them, but I’ve never been able to go.

Greg: So what are your expectations? Have you given it much thought?

Gregg (Suspyre): A little bit. I listen to so much music, that I don’t know if I’ve listened to every single band at ProgPower. I know a handful of the bands. I’m expecting it to be fun, because I remember reading, I think it was on the ProgPower web site, “This is an elite concert, with an elite audience.” And I was like, that’s interesting because the people who listen to this music are not normal people. And it’s funny knowing there are other people who listen to the bands, that I listen to. I remember back in the day, when the first ProgPower started and it would be, when I was really into the Power and Prog stuff, I saw the names of these bands and oh, I really want to go. These are all my favorite bands at one shot. And I remember being in high school, looking at German magazines and these concerts they’d have in Germany, with every band, and I was just so excited. Now, because I’ve expanded and listen to so much different music, I have to say, I’m not as knowledgeable about these bands that are coming in now. I know some of them, but I’m not fluent in the ProgPower field as of 2009.

Greg: So you spoke about the fact that you guys send music via MP3s and we’ve talked about the internet and technology. Overall, do you feel that MP3s have been more helpful or more of a hindrance to the band?

Gregg (Suspyre): Overall, it’s been helpful. I think about 90% of my CDs I would not own if I didn’t hear it on MP3 first. In high school I remember downloading… I’d get home from school and start downloading an MP3 and after dinner it would be done, you know with a 28.8 modem back then and you’d get one MP3 a day. And I if liked it, I would buy the CD. And I think that’s what helped. The problem is, it does hurt financially, but it does help the music be heard. And music is meant to be heard. If we didn’t have MP3s no one would hear SUSPYRE unless they’re from New Jersey, at our shows. So it helps some things. I’ve never walked into a CD store and bought a CD if I never heard anything from it. So it helps the music be heard. Yeah… you can’t make a living off of CDs anymore because of people illegally downloading. If I Google SUSPYRE, I see tens of sites where you can just illegally download the album. And I click it and I’m like, oh wow, I just downloaded my own album… that was easy.

Greg: In a weird way, when you’re starting out, is that flattering or are you like, “Holy shit… people are stealing my music”?

Gregg (Suspyre): No… I thought it was kind of flattering. It’s funny; people are listening to me. I was like, well why are people listening to this? I thought it was kind of interesting, like I’m a somebody now. I think in this community and in this genre, people are more respectful and they would buy it and I know a lot of people love their CD collections. The Pop scene is where there’s more illegal downloading, because they’re like, “they have the money anyway”.

Greg: So I read that for your next release, you were contemplating doing a concept album. Has that come to fruition or is that not happening?

Gregg (Suspyre): Actually, we’re pushing the concept album back one album. We were working on one, and Clay was writing a story, and if anything, it was probably going to be a double CD. That’s the one sell out point I will ever do. People were saying the last CD was too long. I disagree. I think CDs should max out the whole 78 minutes all the time. Aim for it. I’m one of those people, when I’m going on a road trip, I want to hear the whole album. I don’t want to have to change CDs every 15 minutes. That’s what I love about DREAM THEATER; they’re all 78 minutes, they’re all completely filled… well, most of them at least. It’s just more satisfying. The new one we’re doing, it’s a collection of songs. It’s a little bit lighter in tone. I’m sure there will be some sort of press release about it shortly. I’m still finishing up the composition. I’m trying to keep it a little bit shorter and not get carried away… you know, 15-minute-long instrumental breakdowns. The concept album that we were working on, Clay can control that, probably going to be the next one, after this one, in a few years.

Greg: Do you guys have a tentative release date for the new album or working title?

Gregg (Suspyre): No working title, but I would guess spring 2010, if I had to guess. I like having deadlines, because it keeps things on track. But I’m afraid of them because they always get pushed back.

Greg: And I read that you were considering doing a computer animated video for one of your songs. Is that going to happen?

Gregg (Suspyre): That’s a good question… I had totally forgotten about that. That was in the works last year. Our manager knew someone who was going to do a computer animated video for “Possession”. I don’t know whatever happened to that. Some things just get pushed aside when other things come up.

Greg: Finally, do you guys have a goal in mind?

Gregg (Suspyre): Everyone is on a different page, because we all have such different lives. I’m pretty much the only one who does music for a living. So SUSPYRE is one of my personal projects. I can’t put 100% into it, because I do a lot of freelance work, freelance composition. I do production and recording. So, I would like to get a lot of albums recorded. Recording is my favorite thing, I like that more than performing, because you can sit down and dwell on it and really think what you’re going to do. Performing… I could break a string and my night would be ruined. It ruins the vibe. And performing is great. It’s one of those nice things to be able to do as a musician. I like projects. Personally, I have a lot of musical goals. I have a lot of orchestral things I’ve written. I would want them to be released somehow. For one of them, it’s very difficult, I keep putting it in for competitions, when you get grants, but they keep saying it’s too hard. So you know what, I’m just going to program it and maybe I’ll release a CD of programmed MIDI music, but I’ll make it like uhhh… programmed doesn’t mean it’s going to sound fake. If you listen to any movie with Hans Zimmer doing the score, that kind of programmed. “Pirates of the Caribbean” is all MIDI and no one says that it sounds fake. My goals are more personal.

Greg: And do you have any projects planned, that are Rock or Metal, that wouldn’t fit under the SUSPYRE banner?

Gregg (Suspyre): Yeah… there’s one band I’m doing right now. I’m actually not writing anything, I’m just adding to the songs in a way. It was a friend, who has these kind of sixties Rock songs, kind of an Indie feel; what he needed was help with them. When I’m playing guitar and bass and saxophone, I’m giving them more, not Metal, more of a progressive kind of feel. And I get to solo and that’s kind of fun. The other thing I’m going to do is a couple of Jazz Fusion albums. There’s one I have, about seven or eight tunes written, since college and grad school. I’m working on getting them going. The thing is, it’s not a priority ‘cause I have other projects to do. I have them all written; I just want to get them released on one album. I have them all on separate CDs that were never released. Just some recordings I’ve done at concerts, in college and grad school. And I’d like to do some sort of solo… thing. (laughter)

Greg: Well, that’s all the questions I have. I wish you guys all the luck and I’m looking forward to your performance in September.

Gregg (Suspyre): It’s gonna be fun. We haven’t played in a while. We know there’s a lot of people there, so we really want to do a good show.

This ends Greg’s interview with Suspyre guitarist/saxophonist Gregg Rossetti. Suspyre hits the stage Thursday night, September 10th, as part of ProgPower USA’s famed Showcase selection of bands.

Final Note: All photos/images used to illustrate this interview are used in compliance with the principles of Fair Use. They illustrate reviews, opinions, and interviews with the band members who created the albums and on whose official web sites, MySpace, and Facebook pages some of these images reside. The photo of the band is borrowed from the band’s official Facebook page. Photo by Jill Hughes. No copyright violations are intended.